N O R Th 24Th Str Eet W a Lk in G to Ur
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presents the NORTH 24TH STREET WALKING TOUR STREET WALKING 24TH NORTH North 24th Street is pretty quiet these days. There is a little noise from the barbershops and retail outlets that dot the streetscape. A couple of restau- rants are making a go of it just off the thoroughfare on Lake Street. And there’s a burgeoning arts scene. But the music that once enlivened the area is mostly silent. For blacks who began to reside in North Omaha during the early 20th century, 24th Street became known as the “Street of Dreams.” The area around 24th and Lake Streets emerged as a lively district of music clubs, theaters, restau- rants and retail shops. It Members of the Marching was a haven for enter- Majorettes during a parade passing tainment from the 1920s the intersection of 24th and Lake through the 1960s. in the 1950s. Photo courtesy Great Plains Black History Museum. The street also was important to Jewish settlers, who began to populate the area in the 1890s. They called the stretch of North 24th Street from Cuming to Lake Streets the “Miracle Mile.” Jewish historian Arthur Grossman described the street as “the arterial lifeline connecting homes, shops, and sundry suppliers of products and services necessary for the maintenance of Jewish life.” Blacks, Jews and other ethnicities coexisted peacefully for decades. In 1914, there were 17 grocery stores, five tailors, seven shoe repair shops and five second-hand stores on that stretch of North 24th Street alone, along with confectioners, barbers and butchers. Within four years, 15 of the businesses in the area were owned by blacks, including five restaurants. Black physicians, such as A.G. Edwards and W. M. Gordon, had also established offices. While music venues such as the Dreamland Ballroom and Club Egypt Jacob Bernstein stands outside began to spring up in his grocery store at the northeast the 1920s, bands were corner of 24th and Lake Streets. He forming. Civil War ran the grocery from about 1912 veteran Josiah Waddle to the mid-1920s. Photo courtesy was one of the first, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. forming a band of about 15 musicians after he moved here in the 1880s. He also set up a barber- shop on Lake Street. Dan Desdunes moved to Omaha from New Orleans in 1904 and started a band of about 25 players; they often Kiva Hornstein and Sam Siporin played for outings of the owned the Federal Market at 1414 N. 24th St. from 1936 to 1961. Omaha Commercial Photo courtesy Nebraska Jewish Club. Red Perkins, Lloyd Historical Society. Hunter and Sam Turner started successful bands that played throughout the Midwest. Nat Towles moved to Omaha from Texas in the mid-1930s and ran perhaps the area’s most successful touring band for about 20 years. The area spawned local musicians who gained national fame. Wynonie Harris got his start at Jim Bell’s Club Harlem, a lavish cabaret in the former Diamond Theater at 24th and Lake. Harris went on to score a string of rhythm and blues hits in The Micklin Lumber Co. was the ‘40s and ‘50s and was located at 24th and Burdette from an influential forerunner 1921 until 1941. Photo courtesy of rock ‘n’ roll. Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. Preston Love was bitten by the jazz bug at an early age, sometimes sneaking a peek through a window or an open door of a North Side club. He became a prominent figure in the jazz, big band and popular music worlds as an alto saxophonist. Like Love, Neal Hefti was a fan of Count Basie. He caught the Kansas City bandleader’s act at the Dreamland Ballroom. Trumpeter Hefti later wrote and arranged for Basie, as well as Woody Herman, before moving on to score music for television and movies. German, Scandinavian Dan Desdunes became a popular and Irish immigrants were bandleader after moving to Omaha in 1904. He also led the the first to settle the area. band at Fr. Flanagan’s Boys Town. The 24th and Lake hub Ad from the July 3, 1915 became an important edition of The Monitor. business center in the neighborhood, and by 1890 there were streetcar tracks on both streets. Within blocks of the intersection were the Swedish Mission Hospital, the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the original site of Omaha University, and Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, which entertained Theodore Roosevelt and other U.S. presidents at its Den Shows. The district has witnessed Workers outside a North 24th St. brilliant highs and clothing store circa 1940. Photo crushing lows. Both courtesy Great Plains Black natural and man-made History Museum. destruction have come its way. A killer tornado devastated the area in 1913. It left behind more than 20 dead men in a pool hall at 24th and Grant and all seven members of baker Nathan Krinsky’s family, plus scores of others killed or injured. Violent demonstrations in the 1960s—provoked by housing restrictions, a lack of employment opportunities and a general discontentment—left scars that are still visible today. But the area retains a spark of hope. The North Omaha Village Revitalization Plan, formalized in 2011, calls for the re-establishment of a cultural arts district centered at 24th and Lake Streets. The 30-year plan has the backing of city leaders and Omaha native Wynonie Harris, community trendsetters. left, during a performance at the The plan may also be Dreamland Ballroom, was a bolstered by the ghosts blues shouter who gained national of jazz and rhythm-and fame. Photo courtesy University blues-greats, who want of Nebraska at Lincoln to hear the music play History Harvest. again. 1. Dreamland Park 24th & Lizzie Robinson Dr. Dreamland Park was dedicated in 2004 as part of a $2 million street- scape beautification program that included distinctive tree-lined brick sidewalks, improved lighting and benches. The crown jewel of the park is the “Jazz Trio” cast bronze sculpture by Littleton Alston. The park, with its fountain, stage and metal chairs and benches, was named for the famed Dreamland Ballroom. About 150 people attended a free jazz concert that inaugu- rated the park. It featured Lafayette Reed and his band, along with the Dreamland Jazz All-Stars. The street name—Lizzie Robinson Drive—pays homage to the black woman who organized the women’s ministry of the Church of God in Christ International, the largest black Pentecostal denomination. Her home at 2864 Corby St. is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 2. Charles Washington Residence 2402 N. 25th St. Charles Washington, who lived in this house from the late ‘60s until his death in 1986, was an author, talk show host, civil rights activist and mentor to a number of young Omahans, including Ernie Chambers, Bob Boozer and Johnny Rodgers. He started at the Omaha Star while still a teen, first as a sportswriter. He went on to write major news stories and editorials. Washington considered his interview with Malcolm X as the highlight of his career. He was perhaps the only local journalist to interview the controversial figure. Following Washington’s death, former Mayor Mike Boyle ordered flags at city buildings to fly at half-staff. Washington was a frequent speaker at City Council and County Board meetings. Washington was a staunch supporter of education, so it was fitting when the north branch of the Omaha Public Library was named in his honor just five months after his passing. The house was also the boyhood home of pro basketball player Bob Boozer. He was an All-American at Kansas State before going on to an 11-year career in the NBA. 3. Obee Funeral Home 2518 Lake St. G. Wade Obee’s funeral home was the scene of the combined funerals of five men who died at the Idlewild Pool Hall in the 1913 Easter Sunday tornado. Obee offered “unequaled conveniences” and “the latest and most scientific methods” at his funeral home, and his staff were “specialists in post-mortem facial expressions.” The funeral home was designed by Clarence “Cap” Wigington, Nebraska’s first black architect. Obee was much more than an undertaker. He published The Progressive Age newspaper for about two years starting in 1912. He once debated attorney John Grant Pegg, espousing Theodore Roosevelt for president, while Pegg backed William Howard Taft. In 1911, he was one of several black citizens who traveled to Lincoln to oppose a “Jim Crow bill” being sponsored by a state representative. Obee moved to a new funeral home on Cuming Street in 1917. Silas Johnson then moved his Western Funeral Home into the building. After Johnson died in 1922, William L. Myers bought the building and operated his funeral home there. Myers moved to 22nd and Lake five years later, and the house was converted into a family residence. 4. Broomfield Rowhouse 2502 Lake St. The Broomfield and Crutchfield Rowhouses were built shortly after a tornado ripped through northeast Omaha on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913. Jack Broomfield and Billy Crutch- field, partners in the notorious Midway saloon in downtown Omaha’s Third Ward, commissioned Clarence “Cap” Wigington to design the twin commercial duplexes. As a “lieutenant” of city boss Tom Dennison, Broomfield helped deliver black votes for Dennison-backed candidates. When Broomfield died of a heart attack in 1927, Dennison was one of his pallbearers. Of Broomfield, he stated, “He never failed a friend, and about the only enemies he had were those who owed him money.” At the time of his death in 1927, Broomfield also owned a commercial building at 24th and Erskine and his home at 2124 Lake St.